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I am nearly physically unable to sit down and sort through my bills and get them paid on time....

then don't

I live on a tight budget and when I see the bills come in, I place them on a pile on my desk until payday, then usually have to use a calendar to chart who and how much I've paid..

don't do this either

I have been late many times, paid many late fees and have paid many overdraft fees.. I am SICK of it...

no doubt

I just got back from a short (mandatory) trip, and was planning on sitting down to pay bills the next day back, last wed. It is now Sun eve....
you need to stop **planning** to pay bills and just do it

I have rather cleaned all of the toilets, scooped poo from the yard, scrubbed the tile- ANYTHING than sit down and sort the bills.

don't do that

I get a tingling feeling in my chest when I think about it, and feel a coldsore coming on, which I hardly EVER get..... ANYONE ELSE??

no. can't say that I ever have.

I swear, I would rather have an accountant do it.. I don't care about the money, give it all away to them, just don't make ME do it....

when the bill arrives, paper or email, look at the amount...
unless the amount looks out of line with what you usually pay... just pay it.

Right then and there, that second, no delay, pay the damned bill.
Then file the paid bill away. Done.

You're basically describing anxiety, and in response to that anxiety you are procrastinating in order to avoid the thing that causes you stress.

Unfortunately, you're procrastination ends us exacerbating the stress - because you end up missing payments, getting late fees/etc..

If you can "force" yourself to break this pattern of procrastination/avoidance - you really should do so. You're not going to die from paying bills. Aside from the fact that perhaps you don't have as much money as you'd prefer - nothing horrible is going to happen from sitting down and paying your bills when they come in.

If the problem is that you have to wait because you don't have enough money when they arrive, you need to see what you can do to build up 1 months worth of salary, so that you can pay your bills as soon as they arrive instead of saving up all of them to pay at once (causing some of them to be late, etc..). Perhaps you could take extra hours at your job to build up that amount? Or temporarily take a second job.

Really try to take control of this now. A lot of people let their anxiety situations get so bad that they eventually need medication and/or therapy - neither of which helps in terms of reducing expenses.

If your anxiety is this high about life in general, seek medical treatment and/or counseling.

If it's just bills- GROW UP AND PAY THEM. Make a monthly budget and include when you get paid and when your regular bills are due. Write the check or have auto-draft set up so that they second each bill comes in, you pay it. Think of how much money you've wasted on late fees!!

I'm on a tight budget myself, and I have no problem paying my bills each month. I write each bill and the amount down on a 3"x5" card, and as I pay them, I cross them off. I don't wait for them to be overdue, I pay them as soon as my $$ arrives in the bank.

Have you ever considered online banking? It just streamlines the bill paying process and makes things so much easier and quicker. Most of my bills are delivered electronically, so when they arrive in my in-box all I have to do is enter the payment amount and date. Done. The few companies that don't participate with paperless billing still send bills by mail, but since it's only a few bills they are easy to keep track of. And you can set up electronic reminders for these paper bills too so you don't forget to pay them. And every bill you pay is tracked online for you for your records.

I never really had the patience to sit and enter all the info for online banking,

BUT, it sounds easy, so I really should give it a shot...

I have some that are direct pay, ones that come right out of my account on a specific date.

Really, I just need more organization. I am such a mess... papers pile up so quickly..
I hate it..
It's not that I don't want to be responsible, and pay on time. For me, it gets overwhelming.
I'm just glad I can pay them now, because of tight budgeting.

I used to think I had enough money, buy tons of groceries, hit a couple stores for junk or crafts, eat out more than needed, get subway or pizzas, rent movies, buy magazines, etc.
Now, I have stopped all of that, don't really miss it. And can afford to be caught up.

Does anyone come to someones house to "Set-up" a home office. I have no idea where to start...

I know there are people who will help organize your home (Declutter, classify, donate, sell) -- I'm sure there's someone somewhere who would set up an office setting for you --- for a fee, of course.

Just be careful - you don't want to give them your financial info, and get into trouble.

For me, I pay bills 1x per week. Usually Saturday morning, when I balance the checkbook for the week.

Also - I use Quicken, and instead of just having my current balance in my checkbook - I enter all the expected transactions for the month. (So, I may not have paid the water bill yet, I may not have even received it yet, but I know its due on the 20th every month and I know its normally $50 - so I just go ahead and enter it with a date of the 20th and an amount of $50).

That way if I decide to make any unplanned purchases (household goods, extra groceries, emergency repairs, etc..) I can see immediately how it will affect the rest of my month's cash flow.

And most banks online banking is SUPER simple. Once you log in - all you'll need is the statement info from the bill you want to pay (name of company, amount, date to pay, account number, billing address).

I pay 90% bills online, it does make things much simpler.

Good luck to you -- I was a procrastinater in college as well, so I know how tempting it can be...

But bill paying doesn't have to be that bad. Spend a little time getting organized (file folders for each of your bills maybe??), and a little time setting up online bill pay (maybe a rainy day when there's nothing better to do outside anyway).. and you'll be zipping this chore off your list in no time!
You

1.) If the paper clutter is becoming bothersome, switch all your accounts to paperless billing online. I use a spreadsheet to track all my usernames and passwords and then I use a password to protect that document.
2.) It may be time consuming to enter all of your account info for online bill pay but instead break it down as you get your bill. When you bill pay, you can schedule the bill to be withdrawn from your account on a particular day. Not all websites have this set up...some are only able to post on that day. I prefer using the company's website instead of the bank's website to schedule payments. Whatever works for you is the way to go.
3.) Use a calendar (I like using online Google Calendar) to write down when bills are due. You'll start to see a pattern that the bills are due everytime at the same time. There are sometimes unexpected expenses but the calendar helps to schedule it.
Once you find a method that works for you, the anxiety seems to reduce itself.

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